


The Magpie and The Crow

by Kiri_Kaitou_Clover



Series: The Magpie and The Crow [1]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akira has poor impulse control, Akira is a kleptomaniac, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Not Human, At least for Akira and Goro, Birbs, Chapters out of order, Drabble Series, Fluff and Angst, M/M, The Magpie and The Crow AU, how do you tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23039560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiri_Kaitou_Clover/pseuds/Kiri_Kaitou_Clover
Summary: A Magpie and a Crow became friends. A Magpie and a Crow flew together. A Magpie and a Crow see humans and are curious.A Magpie and a Crow become pawns.They don't have their memories. But they will find each other.(If they fell for each other on the way, then that's the way it would be.)The Magpie and The Crow AU Masterpost
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: The Magpie and The Crow [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655779
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	1. April - Discarded Memories, Faded Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. I guess there's a first time for everything. Me writing an AU for Persona 5. A long fic au. This probably isn't gonna update frequently is it.
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Some context: I wrote The Magpie and The Crow AU sometime last year. It's on my tumblr and I had a ton of ideas as to where to take it. The first drabble has been out for quite some time, but I'm finally posting it here, with a few tweaks. Also, because at some point I began writing AU's of this AU, well... yeah they'll be in separate fics in the same series set. Either way, first drabble, enjoy :3

Perhaps the first thing Kurusu Akira noticed as time slowed around him were the wings.

Wings that were wide and free and larger than anything he’d seen before. Blazing blue flames that encompassed them, they were beautiful and dangerous all at the same time. Everything else around him felt like an afterthought. Time seemed to slow as he watched the wings beat, sending a burst of wind…

And then the noise of the crowd returned. Akira flinched as people shoved past, feeling the urge to duck his head and apologise. He remembered where he was now.

Shibuya. Sent away from home. Probation.

~~R͘e̸h͢a̢bi̢lita̛ti͡on͝.̛\~~

~~̵A g̴am͢e̴.̧~~

Akira winced. His last reasons for being in Shibuya eluded him, but he shook it off as he made his way to the Den-en-toshi line heading to Yongen-jaya.

Those reasons weren’t important… were they?

The odd phone app he had found not long after was just as bizarre.

Was it important? Was it not?

Akira didn’t know, deleting it without pondering too much.

~~As i̡f ̕disc̸ar͞di҉ng̨ n҉e͡c̨es̢s͏ar̢y ̵mem͞o̡ri̡es̛.~~

A new neighborhood to get used to. Yongen-jaya was quieter than the noise that was Shibuya itself. Finding where he was supposed to go was... problematic, considering he was hesitant to actually ask the officer nearby for directions. (After his last experience with the authorities, well...)

The ring of a bell sounded as Akira opened the door to the cafe he'd been directed to. Cafe Leblanc was cosy, warm. The scent of coffee and curry welcoming its customers.

Sakura Sojiro, on the other hand, was not welcoming in the slightest. Or at least, that’s what it seemed to Akira at first glance.

First impressions were not every thing, after all.

He didn't really blame the man for reacting the way he did, but he was grateful for having even a place to stay anyways. Akira felt a rush of amusement at how startled the barista was by how polite he was. 

The attic was dusty and messy. But it had a window, and it was spacious. And that was all Akira needed, truly.

(He always felt that his old room had been cramped and stifling, and though his current situation was stifling in a different way, the attic was still bigger and more freeing from that cramped space.)

~~A̡ļl ̧hę ͠n̕e͞e͠d͜ed w͏as̢ ̧t̢h̶e̷ w̢i҉nd ̢unde̕r ̢his̶ wi̸n͝gs͏,̵ th͜e͜ f͞e͝eling of ͘fr̸e̢e͞dom ͏in th͟e͏ ͘a͠ir. ͟~~

* * *

Akira’s first dream that night may have been of a prison, of twins, and of an old man ~~w͝h͘o̷ ha̶d a f̴a̸mili̕ar ͠voice. Dee͡p,҉ e͡c̕hoin͟g,̴ co͝m͡m̸an̢d̶in͜g. A͞ v̸oice tha̷t͠ ̴m͠ade ̕h̛i̕m _w͘ary͞_.̨~~

But his next dream was of wings, the sound of it beating in the air, ~~a̡ flurry͘ of ̸b͜la͜c̡k ̵fe͏at͢h͢e̡r̷s͢, ̷the̵ ͠c͢aw̸s͝ o͡f a̵ ͘c͠row ̧by̧ hiş sįd̕e~~ , and wind billowing all around him, greeting him like an old friend.

When Akira woke up, he wondered if those dreams were the sign of a new start. Free from the ties that bound him to his old home, free from the chains that was the unfair and unjust accusation against him.

It wasn’t as if the people he’d meet would know of his reasons for transferring… right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edits made to original post:   
> -lowering the crazy of the zalgo text   
> -added a few little details and edits (thanks to me playing the game)  
> -more Akira thoughts  
> -more hints that something's up with what Akira can't recall.


	2. June - Instincts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put up and Chapters Out of Order tag. Because really the chapters are going to be out of order with how infrequently I write things. Also because I jumped ahead in the timeline in my eagerness to write this out. P5R is out (in Australia) and my brain just went "The Magpie and The Crow AU" and I just... wrote the point that I wanted to cover at the time. Which is Akira struggling with his new (old) instincts. Thus this mess.
> 
> There will be some points and oddities mentioned that haven't actually happened yet (thanks to this being completely out of chapter order) but let's see if you all can point them out.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy this silly silly chapter that is so so tonally different from the very first drabble.
> 
> (there is one moment that isn't exactly fitting the silly though and for good reason.)

Akira was... struggling at the moment. Trying his hardest not to stare at his schoolmates’ pockets.

Struggling very hard not to try and filch the shiny things (”Coins,” he muttered to himself) that he knew were in there.

Ever since he’d seen (met, spoke with, challenged) the Crow and regained all his memories, his old instincts had gone into overdrive, as if catching up with the fact that he’d once been a Magpie.

First there was the rooftop. As much as Nijima-senpai had told them that the roof was off limits, Akira had found himself going there way more often than he should have, and had, on one occasion scaled the fencing just a bit to sit on the rails.

He’d caused Ann and Ryuji a bit of a panic though when they’d found him there. “I wasn’t going to fall! I’m not a chick anymore!” was what he had been about to blurt out to them until he remembered that he was human. Then he reluctantly let them pull him back onto the floor, realising full well that their worry was justified.

(He’d never thought he’d miss being able to fly, but the memory of that girl, Shiho, falling _falling falling and not pulling up why isn’t she pulling up_ and just being a crumpled mess on the ground had ingrained in his head that humans could not fly at all.)

Second was... being very very distracted by shiny. Akira never thought there’d be a day he’d sympathise with the cat (Not. Morgana was definitely not a cat and he could definitely see it now.) but he sure did. There was just this urge to pick up the shiny items around him and just gaze at them in awe. This extended to Treasure Demons though... which had that very _very_ alluring shine to them that just made Akira’s instincts itch to snatch it.

(The team had to blink in surprise when he’d finally gave into his instincts and pounced on a Treasure Demon with a similar fervor as to Mona with Palace Treasure, only to snap out of it when Skull spoke up. Much to his embarrassment.

“Didn’t think our leader had a side like this,” Panther giggled as Joker flushed even more.

“Is this a recent thing? Or have you been holding it in?” Fox mused. “We did encounter Treasure Demons in Madarame’s Palace and you didn’t really react like that.”

“Shut it,” Joker growled, still very much embarrassed at having broken character and given into that urge. It wasn’t his fault that Treasure Demons were so shiny!)

And then there was that third instinct linked to the second... That awful _awful_ urge to pickpocket and steal whatever shiny he could get his hands on. His hands twitched, his eyes trying not to light up at the sight of coins or keys or whatever shiny item had been in people’s pockets and they were taking out. Akira had been trying hard to stamp down the growing urge. He was already on probation and there was _no way_ he wanted to get himself in even more trouble for theft.

And he was struggling with that urge every moment he spent outside. Akira was entirely glad when school ended for the day and he could just hole himself up in Leblanc’s attic for the rest of the evening. There was _no way_ he was going out like this.

Of course, like all his instincts, Akira eventually gave into and acted upon it the very next morning.

Unfortunately his target had been the Crow. Because _of course_ Akira’s idiotic danger seeking brain had decided to pickpocket Akechi Goro during their conversation at the station, and then promptly getting caught in the act. With Akechi looking _very smug at Akira’s hand caught in his pocket_.

“What are you doing?” Akechi hummed pleasantly and Akira fought down a shudder of delight. Just why the heck did his Crow make him feel like this? “Trying to pickpocket a detective, Kurusu? I didn’t think you’d be that bold.”

“Didn’t mean to. My hand moved on its own,” Akira replied, flushed in embarrassment (he’d been doing that a lot lately). Also that lie was _terrible_. Then again it wasn’t really a lie.

Thankfully Akechi had let it go quite easily (Akira was still a mess when they’d split up) and Akira’s instincts had settled for a few days.

Then sometime in Kaneshiro’s Palace, the urge decided to rear its ugly head. This time however, his targets ended up being 1. his teammates, and 2. enemy Shadows.

* * *

Situation 1:

“Hey! Where did my gun go?!”

“Oops. Sorry Skull, I didn’t realise I’d taken it.”

“Joker, is that _my whip?!_ Did you seriously manage to take it off my waist without me noticing?!“

“I... have no excuse.”

“... I didn’t realise the team was this disorganised. Is this how things normally are?”

“I think you are better off asking Mona, really.”

“Honestly? No. Just, no. I have no idea where Joker’s streak of kleptomania came from. I’d consider it a recent development, and he tried to pickpocket Akechi Goro one time.”

“He _what_?!”

* * *

Situation 2:

“Damn it. That Shadow ran without dropping anything.”

“Ugh. Why is getting money for better equipment so hard anyways?”

“Do we really need to do this though? I mean we could just face Kaneshiro’s Shadow as we are.”

“Fox, did you see how Joker, Panther, Skull and Queen almost got wiped out earlier from just one of his more powerful lackeys? I’d rather we play it safe and get ourselves more powerful gear before tackling his Shadow.“

“...”

“Joker? Is something the matt... wait, what's that in your hands?”

“I... think I pickpocketed that Shadow as it ran?”

“You _think_?!”

“Look, it’s instinct alright?! My hands just moved!”

“... is his kleptomania acting up again?”

“... I think so? Let’s just be glad his target was the Shadows this time and not us.”

* * *

Yeah.

His instincts were definitely getting the better of him.

Akira really felt like laughing and cursing his situation all over again. Because it had already been hard living as a human even without his memories and now with all his older instincts it was so much harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> June is by far the one part of the game where I go nuts because _Akechi Goro _. Like this part of the game is where Akechi gets his meme status as pancake boy as well as the very very early reveal that he has a Persona already. Like really I cannot wait to play the P5R version of Akechi's confidant route because damn it I want _moar_. I picked the TV station as the point where Akira remembers everything because, well it's their first meeting.  
>   
> Also I hope I depicted kleptomania correctly. Because really, Akira with kleptomania anchored on Shadows or his friends is funny (but its very dangerous on his friends). Also Akira with poor impulse control post regaining memories is suddenly the funniest thing ever in my head.  
>   
> Lastly: thirsty Akira. just. Akira not realising how thirsty he is for Goro. I'll write the realisation somewhere at some point.  
>   
> (That bit about Joker, Panther, Skull and Queen getting wiped out by Kaneshiro's goons is a reference to my own playthrough, where I barely survived all of the mini boss fights thanks to very very poor planning, unlucky element match ups, and bad SP management on my part. Even the grind for money is accurate since I spent a portion of my two day palace run doing that.)__

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Shattered Illusion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23039941) by [Kiri_Kaitou_Clover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiri_Kaitou_Clover/pseuds/Kiri_Kaitou_Clover)




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